Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider/NCIS.
AN: Alex needs to share her history with them because they need to find the loophole together with the NCIS team. In trusting them to keep her story secret, for now anyway, she shows them, that she is willing to do whatever is necessary to stop Walker & Co.
Chapter 8: Convincing (~3,040 words)
"So that's how we ended up here.", the blonde finished.
Tony, Gibbs and McGee couldn't believe her.
They didn't want to believe her story. Alex was desperate.
She needed to convince them, to trust in her abilities.
Otherwise they didn't have a chance to beat the enemy at his own game.
Alex sent an apologetic look in Eagle's direction.
"Help me, will you?", she whispered, voice low.
A pained expression flashed across his face. "If you think this is a good idea..."
"I love you, birdbrain. And we talked about this. You need to trust me. At least now you can – help me with it."
"I have your back. But you need to trust me as well, Princess."
She nodded, carefully getting on her feet.
He helped her up, even though it was unnecessary, ignoring the curious looks they were treated to by the others.
Eagle started to undress.
He loosened the belt of the uniform, putting it on the table. He slipped out of the jacket, hanging it carefully over her chair. Then he took his shirt off, revealing his torso.
He was the most scarred of all of K-Unit, having been tortured briefly before.
They knew that much, after training and showering with him for the better part of four years. He had talked to Snake and a psychologist about his nightmares.
"I have been tortured before.", he explained for Tony and McGee who had never seen a seasoned soldier's body. "While on patrol in Iraq, I and some others had been captured. They got to them first, so I was mostly unharmed when we were freed. The rest is a bullet graze on my shoulder from a rifle also in Iraq, but when I was still in the army. My first tour. Then there was a IED which exploded fairly far away from me on my second tour, so I was lucky and just had a few shrapnel pieces stuck in my arms and legs. And I'm 24, by the way."
Ben suspected where this was going and he hated it. Alex was insecure enough. He wanted to shield her from any additional pain. But he knew that she would hate him for interfering.
He closed his eyes, agonizing pain seething through him at what Alex was about to do.
Usually she never showed weaknesses, even to them. Those two tears just a moment ago were a premiere for the SAS soldiers and Ben.
He had been the only one to see her cry in a long time, after being woken one night at her getting a cup of milk out of the fridge. It took a lot of persuasion from him for her to open up to him about the nightmare.
Eagle was the only one who had seen all of her scars, physical ones, at least, and some mental ones as well.
Alex was truly desperate if she went to these measures, baring her soul to these agents like that.
He needed to trust them, to be able to protect her and help her.
She nodded and pulled her shirt off, revealing the black bra and tattoo once again, staring at a point at the wall.
Avoiding his gaze on purpose, knowing this was hard on him as well.
She stood back in the shadows, so her skin was not completely revealed under the harsh neon light.
"Can you point out which ones I mean?", Alex asked Eagle quietly.
"I will." 'Even if it breaks my heart all over again.'
Any other day, Ben would have wondered why they were that familiar with the respective other's bodies. Today was different, though.
There was a more pressing matter at hand than finding out about their familiarity.
He watched horrified, as Alex stepped back under the light, exposing her rough skin contours for all to see.
Ziva gasped at the torso, even though she had seen a part of it.
Gibbs lost his ability to speak. He had a daughter once. Looking at Alex now almost killed him inside.
Tony stared.
Wolf growled.
Snake had seen the scars before, but was still furious.
Lemming blanched, thoroughly embarrassed by his former patronizing behavior towards her.
And Eagle pressed his lips in thin white lines, trying not to show any emotions.
McGee didn't seem to notice that he cried.
"Car crusher, killing house, Science Museum, acidic spider, hunting 'accident', train and a fence, shark/cave, mad Russian and his henchman, Wimbledon, assassination attempt one, bull fight, Game Slayer live version, Air Force One, tiger, Malagosto, car chase, hot air balloon, assassination attempt two, the first real one. I will spare you the rest. I have been tortured, captured and nearly killed more times than I can count. Scorpia had me for two months the last time they tried, running their torture course on samples involuntarily provided by me. That's where I got my little tattoo; the ink reacts toxic to lasers and would kill me instantly if removed.", Alex explained.
Eagle gave her his jacket. She tried a faint grateful smile for him. His lips twitched upwards, recognizing the gesture and squeezed her hand lightly to reassure her.
A bitter smile edged on her face, she continued: "It's a new brand, The Rider. The doc's closed the ink in where it is now and I added the Russian. I am really only eighteen years old, at least if you go by birth date. That's no joke."
Eagle nodded, confirming McGee's unasked question.
"If anyone sees me turning from a boy in a girl, I am not safe anymore. Every chance at some kind of normal life I ever had will be gone. With my scars, I am as recognizable as Britney Spears. And ever since that assassination-attempt-gone-wrong, I attract men like flies if I want. Something in my enzyme/hormone balance changed and it's like I'm constantly flashing a neon sign over my head that says 'I'm available. Come get me.' Sometimes my body acts on its own."
The blonde spy sent her boyfriend a look that was dark, seductive and absolutely unfitting in the current situation, before she concentrated again.
Eagle had experienced the effects of that particular change first hand. He automatically grinned back at her, eyes dark and telling her exactly what he thought of.
"See? Ben had been captured, so we knew we had a mole in our ranks. I had a suspicion who it might be and we needed to flush him out. Using my transformation had worked pretty good for manipulating men before, so I tried again. I needed help provoking the mole though who was the weakest and incredibly arrogant."
Ben paled in anger. He hadn't heard this part of the story before. The rest of K-Unit cleared some space around him, unconsciously feeling the change in the atmosphere. None of the men wanted to be around when Ben heard what exactly Alex and Eagle had done to 'provoke the mole.'
"We needed a distraction that worked as a bait as well. I had an idea, but like I said, I needed a partner in crime.", she sent her boyfriend a smirk before she concentrated again.
"Persuading the other guys was fairly easy, after I promised to save their asses from you, Ben. So, using my weird 'talent' for the first time, it was easy to convince everyone else that I was a girl who enjoyed to be in the center of the attention, men and dancing.", her hard eyes softened again as she looked at Eagle. "Beating the seventeen newbies was actually kind of fun after that."
"Seventeen assassins-in-training?", Ziva interrupted.
"Yes. The damn dress had no sleeves so I have a few bullet grazes from that, a few knife wounds as well, but it could be worse. I am a good shot."
Gibbs looked slightly murderous, imaging his daughter in Alex's place. He hated for kids to be hurt or abused. This was the worst case he ever encountered.
McGee had just reigned in his emotions, before paling again.
Lemming looked completely abashed. No wonder everyone was so protective over the girl – she needed it.
"You are the best. Better even than Eagle.", Ben said finally. "He is the weapons specialist and sharpshooter of K-Unit."
"I was trained by the best.", Alex muttered, embarrassed but proud that Ben praised her abilities.
Eagle grinned, not feeling bad about being only second best. If there had been a slight chance to beat her at shooting, he would have found it by now. He enjoyed challenging her and usually he benefited from her winning as well.
"Does Taipan know?", Snake wondered.
"Yes." A genuine grin stretched on her lips despite the situation. "He fussed over me, believe it or not. Said I wasn't to eat anything I didn't plant and grow myself."
That lightened up the mood of those who understood the irony shortly.
Ziva suspected whoever Taipan was usually wasn't the caring type.
The NCIS agents were confused.
"I can't believe him.", Ben mumbled, shaking his head.
"Me either.", Alex assured him. She saw the confusion of Gibbs and the others.
So the blonde added: "It's a bit ironic. He is a retired assassin and not one of the touchy-feely types."
Now Gibbs' team understood the joke as well. A grin appeared on Tony's face, imaging a ninja who fussed over a teen.
"Anyway. He won't be able to help us from where he is at the moment. They want his blood as well, if they know he's still alive.", Alex came back to the problem at hand.
Gibbs reigned in his anger, to concentrate. "Alright. So you told us that the enemy probably knows all of this. What else do they know?"
"They know how I react to which torture method, learned a lot in two months. They know my greatest weakness - the people I love. They know how I fight."
"She plays dirty.", Eagle added for the benefit of the NCIS team.
He grinned slightly and earned himself a playful slap against his abs.
"Focus!", Ben scowled in his direction. "And get your head out of the gutter while you're at it."
Alex smirked and whispered something that made Ben who sat closest to her blanch at Eagle smirk as well.
"Alex is the best agent we have.", Ben added. "She is using whatever means possible to win fights on missions."
"Taipan beat her last year.", reminded Wolf, cautioning the enthusiasm of the older spy.
"He is nearly twenty years older than me. What did you expect? I'm pretty good, not a goddess."
Ziva knew that Alex could floor everyone of her team within seconds. But she was better trained than them.
"Then let's see what you got, Rider.", she challenged, expecting an interesting fight. The girl played dirty? She was good at that too.
Alex nodded. She was calmer now.
"A word of warning. Sometimes I lose myself in a fight. You need to either knock me out or restrain me until I caught myself."
Ziva nodded, understanding. She heard similar stories from agents that had survived long in the field but were unable to separate reality and flashbacks at some point during training.
Alex slipped her shirt back on, keeping Eagle's jacket on over it for a little longer.
She was going to fight like she was. Usually she had no choice anyway.
"Stop me, please.", Alex asked Eagle. He was usually the one spotting her and knew what to look for.
"I will. Be careful. You can't break or squish anything."
Hearing their exchange made Tony and McGee grin. Ziva was unbeatable in their books.
"The question is if she gets the chance.", Tony said, 'defending' Ziva.
Eagle simply smiled. He was confident that Alex would hold her own.
The gym was empty.
Alex climbed in the box ring. Ziva positioned herself a few feet from her.
Eagle and Snake stood on either side of them, outside of their territory, ready to jump in at any given moment.
Alex let her killer-persona surface. This was no use if she didn't show how advanced she was.
Gibbs noted the change in her air, astonished that it was possible for the girl to lose all of her human traits just like that. Nothing had changed in her fighting stance - only now she was more focused.
Like a sharpshooter before shooting. Or a snake before injecting venom.
Gibbs believed that she was deadly now.
Tony, McGee and the rest of the soldiers stood in a loose group. Both parties looked confident that their team member would win.
Ziva was a highly trained Mossad agent. She had been training for over fifteen years.
Alex was also highly trained, by Scorpia, MI6 and finally Yassen. She was the best Britain had to offer.
The two opponents knew the other was deadly from the way they walked, their current posture and the hardened expressions.
Gibbs shuddered at the thought what this girl had gone through. It made him angry and sad.
Then Ziva moved to attack.
Alex dodged it easily, moving so fast she blurred slightly.
Eagle's observant eyes never left his Alex.
Lemming was clearly as astonished as the two young NCIS agents.
Ziva attacked again, using an advanced combination of jabs to pressure points and Alex again dodged, retaliating with two jabs and a swift kick to take out her legs.
Ziva managed to dodge the the jabs but hadn't seen the kick until it was too late.
Alex pinned her down, hands on two pressure points.
"You lose.", she whispered, but in the now silent gym it rang out as if she had yelled.
Tony and McGee stared incredulously at the display of lethalness by a teenager. No one at NCIS had been able to best Ziva. How was one girl able to do it?
Ben frowned. Alex had ended it quickly; she used the fondness of the other agent to really hit her against Ziva. But in the beginning of the fight Alex had been reluctant.
"You do play dirty.", Ziva accused.
"My opponents do too. They never cared that I was a child or that I am a girl. Not everyone is chivalrous. If you want to know how I fight, then why should I alter my style to fit a training session?"
"Good. Again."
"If you wish."
They positioned themselves again.
Gibbs and Ben exchanged a worried glance.
Eagle knew better than trying to disturb her concentration. Snake and he wore the grim, focused expressions on their faces again.
Ziva was more patient this time. She wanted Alex to attack. Her eyes were glued to the enigma in front of her.
Alex's lips widened slightly in that feral smile again. She had counted on Ziva's next strategy.
The spy decided to humor the assassin.
Alex attacked with an usual combo of jabs and kicks to confuse Ziva and it worked mostly. She was clearly not used to this sort of attack.
Alex forced her back in the defensive, giving her no time to attack.
Ziva dodged most of the jabs and looked for a way to gain back some of the ground she had lost.
Alex opened her defense a bit for Ziva to attack. She enjoyed sparring with someone as good as her.
The NCIS agent took the offered chance and tried to strike back.
The men watched as the two gracefully moving women fought. They blurred slightly, but they were both a sight to behold. Like two Cobras in a cage.
Alex felt her control slip slowly, having flashbacks of a similar situation, sparring with a female agent from Scorpia.
The next second, Eagle held her back, hugging her tightly to him so she was unable to escape.
"It's okay, Princess. No one is going to hurt you. You were just training.", he whispered soothingly.
His voice and scent brought Alex back to herself. For a moment, she let herself relish his warmth, closing her eyes.
"You are as good as me. If not better. How is that possible? I trained from a young age...", Ziva said, astonished at her level of skill.
"I had a more experienced teacher. He taught me everything he knew. I have been trained in martial arts from the age of six. My uncle was a spy. He prepared me for this life."
"I am the daughter of a Mossad agent."
"I know who you are. You have a lot of your father's traits and features, Ziva."
"You met my father?"
"I am the legendary espionage miracle child. During my first year I had nine missions, two CIA, one ASIS. After that I had a ... bad phase and took every mission I could. I worked for and against all of the biggest intelligence agencies. I know more state secrets than most high-profile politicians. If the guys catch me... They wouldn't shoot me on the spot. That would not benefit them in any way."
"We drew. You had to have a hell of a teacher."
Alex smirked. "No. I had a teacher from Hell."
The men had caught themselves by then. Eagle grinned at her joke.
At least she wasn't as hopeless as before, he thought.
"Okay, so what are we going to do against them?", McGee wondered.
Just when Alex was about to answer, her phone buzzed.
The third time in one day? That meant bad news.
And it were bad news indeed.
Alex mouth formed an O before she closed it, rage erasing any emotion from her face. She was absolutely lethal now, not like during the sparring, but worse.
Eagle who had looked over her shoulder, blanched.